Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Lausanne.
The Wharton School of Management, University of Pennsylvania.
J Appl Psychol. 2017 Jul;102(7):1003-1021. doi: 10.1037/apl0000221. Epub 2017 Mar 30.
Although researchers predominately test for linear relationships between variables, at times there may be theoretical and even empirical reasons for expecting nonlinear functions. We examined if the relation between intelligence (IQ) and perceived leadership might be more accurately described by a curvilinear single-peaked function. Following Simonton's (1985) theory, we tested a specific model, indicating that the optimal IQ for perceived leadership will appear at about 1.2 standard deviations above the mean IQ of the group membership. The sample consisted of midlevel leaders from multinational private-sector companies. We used the leaders' scores on the Wonderlic Personnel Test (WPT)-a measure of IQ-to predict how they would be perceived on prototypically effective leadership (i.e., transformational and instrumental leadership). Accounting for the effects of leader personality, gender, age, as well as company, country, and time fixed effects, analyses indicated that perceptions of leadership followed a curvilinear inverted-U function of intelligence. The peak of this function was at an IQ score of about 120, which did not depart significantly from the value predicted by the theory. As the first direct empirical test of a precise curvilinear model of the intelligence-leadership relation, the results have important implications for future research on how leaders are perceived in the workplace. (PsycINFO Database Record
虽然研究人员主要测试变量之间的线性关系，但有时出于理论甚至实证的原因，可能需要预期非线性函数。我们研究了智力（IQ）和感知领导力之间的关系是否可以通过曲线单峰函数更准确地描述。根据西蒙顿（Simonton）的（1985）理论，我们测试了一个特定的模型，表明感知领导力的最佳 IQ 出现在群体平均 IQ 之上约 1.2 个标准差处。样本由来自跨国私营部门公司的中层领导者组成。我们使用领导者在 Wonderlic 人事测试（WPT）中的得分——衡量 IQ 的指标——来预测他们在典型有效领导力（即变革型和工具型领导力）方面的表现。考虑到领导者人格、性别、年龄以及公司、国家和时间固定效应的影响，分析表明领导力的感知遵循智力的曲线倒 U 形函数。该函数的峰值出现在智商约 120 分的位置，与理论预测的值没有显著差异。作为对智力与领导力关系的精确曲线模型的首次直接实证检验，这些结果对未来研究工作场所中如何感知领导力具有重要意义。
